This is What France Looks Like...

Bois-Bernard is the village where Liliane and Francois (Claire's parents) live

This is a cool house I saw

In France, mailboxes are yellow

There are bakeries everywhere

Beware: man-eating snakes ahead

A street-view of Lille

The inside of a church I wandered into

Jenny in Bois-Bernard

Gare Lille-Flandres - the main train station in Lille

Downtown Lille - called "Centre-Ville"

District 9

Yesterday Jenny and I went to see Neill Blomkamp's District 9 (not to be confused with Shane Acker's 9, which I also saw last week, and would not recommend). It was in a French theater (obviously) and it was in English with French subtitles. The theater was weird, because instead of the room sloping down toward the screen, it was sloped up, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, District 9 was very good. I'd been looking forward to it more than just about any other movie this summer ever since the trailer came out online some time last spring, and I can't believe it took me this long to finally see it. I think it's going to come in at number 3 on my top movies of the summer, behind Star Trek and Inglourious Basterds, although it wasn't quite as amazing as I thought it might be. But that's probably my own fault for letting my hopes get so high every time I see a good trailer. That seems to be happening to me a lot recently. Terminator: Salvation and 9 were particularly disappointing in terms of the final product completely failing to live up to the promise displayed in the trailer. But District 9 was definitely far superior to both of those.

District 9 is the kind of science fiction I really enjoy - rather than doing what a lot of science fiction does and creating an entire universe in which everything is invented and fantastical, it takes one radical element and inserts it into the real world, and uses the way that element affects its world to examine various issues that are relevant not only to the story but to the world in which we actually live.

I don't want to get into the plot too much for the sake of people who haven't yet seen it, but suffice it to say that the acting and special effects are top-notch, and the originality of the premise is quite refreshing - unlike approximately 99% of movies that are made nowadays, it isn't based on a book or a TV show or another movie from 15 years ago, it is an entirely original idea from first-time director Blomkamp, and as an audience member, you don't see every twist and turn of the plot coming a mile away. I also enjoyed the way that the narrative used documentary-style footage at certain points, yet didn't adhere to the style so strictly that it hindered the telling of the story.

District 9 is, in my mind, in the same vein as movies like Jurassic Park and Children of Men - these movies show a very realistic and compelling view of what it would actually be like if dinosaurs were cloned, or if humanity lost the ability to reproduce, or if aliens landed in South Africa. They take a somewhat outlandish idea, but use that idea to shed light on the way things really are, and tell a good story at the same time. Plot is not sacrificed for the sake of spectacle, yet there is still excellent action and visuals. The main thing that separates a movie like District 9 from the typical action/science fiction fare produced these days is that it is a movie that is based on an interesting idea, and the action and special effects follow that idea, and are used to help develop it, rather than being there simply to look good on screen.

Apartment-Hunting Etc.

Jenny and I are still trying to find a place, which is discouraging because we have spent the last two and a half weeks living in other people's homes and moving back and forth between them. Everyone has been SO nice letting us stay with them and taking care of us, but it's hard not having a space of your own (not to mention it feels like we are becoming more and more of a burden on our gracious hosts).

We have looked at seven or eight different places so far. We are currently waiting to hear back from an agency about a house that we would be sharing with another one of the lectrisses (I don't know if that's how you spell it) who Jenny works with, but there is a lot of paperwork to deal with first and we aren't really sure about it. The other issue with that place is that there is not a stick of furniture (not even a refrigerator) and there are no doors on the bedrooms, which would be nice to have if there are going to be three different people living there. But at this point, we just want to have a definite place, so we're willing to deal with those things.

Sorry if this post is a downer, it's just getting discouraging not having a place to stay of our own. It's also frustrating because, since I don't speak French, I can't really help with the apartment search much, even though I have nothing I need to do all day while Jenny and Deirdre (the girl we're looking for a place with) are teaching. Also I miss everybody back home! Another reason I'm looking forward to having our own place is when we have one we can get this thing where you pay for internet and phone together and you get free calls to landlines anywhere in the world, so it will be easier to talk to a lot of people at home. Hopefully everything with this house will work out, and we can move in within the next week or two.

Aside from apartment-searching, Jenny has been busy with teaching and I have been continuing my exploration of Lille. And this past Sunday, Liliane and Francois (Claire's parents) took us to a place in Belgium where we went on a tour of some big caves, which was cool.

Thoughts on France (and Europe) So Far...

-At French McDonald's, they really do call a Quarter-Pounder with Cheese a Royal Cheese.

-There are not a lot of places to recycle around here, at least that I've seen.

-There are a lot of roundabouts on the roads.

-Things cost pretty much the same in Euros as they would in dollars. Unfortunately for me and my American bank account, the Euro is worth about 1.4 dollars right now.

-French people really do love wine and cheese.

-Public toilets are really hard to find, and when you do, you often have to pay to use them.

-Nobody checks your ticket when you ride the metro, and there's no turnstiles or anything preventing you from just getting on. You just pay for a ticket, stick it in this little machine that prints the time and date on it, and then keep it in your pocket until you arrive at your destination, at which point you throw it away.

-In restaurants, there is no such thing as fountain drinks or free refills. If you order a Coke, you will get a bottle of Coke and a glass to pour it in.

-You will never have to pay more for anything than its price. Tax (if there is any, which I'm not sure about) is included in prices, and tipping servers is not required (that is also worked into the price).

-French people who say, "I'm not very good at English" don't mean the same thing as American people who say that they are not very good at another language. French people mean, "I won't be able to have an entirely fluent conversation with you with a perfect accent, I will merely be able to communicate adequately." American people mean, "I only know how to say about five words in your language, and I won't be able to understand anything you say back to me."

-Everyone here seems to love Muse and Placebo.

-The "toilet" and the "bathroom" are two different places.

-When people park their cars on the street, they actually park them mostly on the sidewalk.

-I feel more American (in both good and bad ways) here than I have ever felt before in my entire life.

Welcome To My New Blog!

Hi everybody, and welcome to my new blog! I created it as an easy way to post photos and update all of the people who are interested in my life about what I'm up to in France.